We discovered that the best way to explore this city was by foot, besides, climbing on to a scooter in this mayhem looked like a death wish guranteed! We spent our first day capturing this city, it has the most beautiful architecture and awesome little cafes that you could be forgiven for thinking that you are no longer in the heart of Asia and could just as easily be somewhere in Europe. We were quickly brought back to our senses when we found ourselves walking down an alley that seemed to be selling fresh goods, and when I say fresh I mean fresh! There were fish, crabs, prawns, unidentifiable meat, flowers, fruit, you name it they had it and some things you wouldn't be able to name if you tried, they had that too.
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| Hanoi cathedral - beautiful old structure |
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Radio 'Nam
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As we were nearing the end of the strip we saw a lady chopping something. As we moved in closer we saw that she had a bowl full of live frogs, and that she was taking them one by one and chopping there heads off. One second they were alive, the next minute they were dead! Except for one little guy who seemed to want to defy death at all costs. She took the knife, chopped off the frogs head and then as she let go, the headless frog began to hop down the road - we both looked at each other, and at the same time said "did you see that?" - the lady chasing the headless frog down the street - it has to be one the funniest things we have seen on our trip and a visual I will never forget!
As the sun began to set we decided that after this stressful day a beer was indeed vital! What better place to enjoy a beer and the hustle and bustle of Hanoi than on the sidewalk with the locals sipping away on some Bia Hoi. It is locally brewed beer that lasts a mere 24 hours and costs a mere 5000 Viet Dong, equivalent to R1,15 !!! Cheapest beer on the planet. Jimmy says this is a good thing because it means you cant get a hangover as there are no preservatives in the stuff - well I can certainly confirm that this theory is simply myth as I had quite a throb in my head the following day. It was well worth it though, sipping away on fresh beer, snacking on some peanuts and talking broken English/Vietnamese to the locals. It sure is a great way to spend your time in Hanoi!
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| Bia Hoi - cheapest in the world. And fresh too.... |
For some early morning entertainment, we would head down to the lake for a run, it was really more for the entertainment factor provided by the locals than an actual hardcore workout but a run it was none the less. The locals all get up incredibly early here and head down to the lake where they all do their early morning excercises. You have all shapes and sizes here and there is no age limit to excercise in this country either. Running along we encountered a group of 80 year holds all standing in a line patting each others backs whilst chanting, a hardcore ex boxer taking a lazy jog while giving his best air punchers and let's not forget the over- enthusiastic Jane Fonda fans doing there best aerobics workout to some classic Vietnemese house music. We could hardly contain ourselves watching all this action happening around us, Vietnam entertainment at it's best!
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| Street breakfast |
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| French influence - town hall |
Time was of the essence and the hustle and bustle of the millions of scooters, whilst entertaining at first, was starting to get a bit much and so it was decided after our two day stint in Hanoi it was time to venture up into the country to a place called Sapa. With trekking being the main past time, Sapa sounded like the perfect place to continue our adventure and don our trekking boots once more...
